Handbook of Social Sciences and Global Public Health

This handbook highlights the relevance of the social sciences in global public health and their significantly crucial role in the explanation of health and illness in different population groups, the improvement of health, and the prevention of illnesses around the world. Knowledge generated via social science theories and research methodologies allows healthcare providers, policy-makers, and politicians to understand and appreciate the lived experience of their people, and to provide sensitive health and social care to them at a time of most need.  

Social sciences, such as medical sociology, medical anthropology, social psychology, and public health are the disciplines that examine the sociocultural causes and consequences of health and illness. It is evident that biomedicine cannot be the only answer to improving the health of people. What makes social sciences important in global public health is the critical role social, cultural, economic, and political factors play in determining or influencing the health of individuals, communities, and the larger society and nation. 

This handbook is comprehensive in its nature and contents, which range from a more disciplinary-based approach and theoretical and methodological frameworks to different aspects of global public health. It covers: 

• Discussions of the social science disciplines and their essence, concepts, and theories relating to global public health
• Theoretical frameworks in social sciences that can be used to explain health and illness in populations 
• Methodological inquiries that social science researchers can use to examine global public health issues and understand social issues relating to health in different population groups and regions
• Examples of social science research in global public health areas and concerns as well as population groups

The Handbook of Social Sciences and Global Public Health is a useful reference for students, researchers, lecturers, practitioners, and policymakers in global health, public health, and social science disciplines; and libraries in universities and health and social care institutions. It offers readers a good understanding of the issues that can impact the health and well-being of people in society, which may lead to culturally sensitive health and social care for people that ultimately will lead to a more equitable society worldwide. 

Pranee Liamputtong is currently a professor in behaviour sciences at the College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity, Vietnam.  She is also an Adjunct Professor at the Translation Health Research Institute (THRI) at Western Sydney University and at the School of Public Health, La Trobe University in Australia. Previously, she held a position of Professor of Public Health at the School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, and Personal Chair in Public Health at the School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Australia. Pranee has also taught in the School of Sociology and Anthropology and worked as a public health research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Mothers’ and Children’s Health, La Trobe University. Pranee’s particular interests include issues related to socio-cultural influences on childbearing, childrearing, motherhood, infant feeding practices, and reproductive and sexual health. Her current research includes motherhood, HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, sexuality and sexual violence, and the health impact of air pollution in Asia.

Pranee has published several books and a large number of papers in these areas. These include Maternity and Reproductive Health in Asian Societies (with Lenore Manderson, Harwood Academic Press, 1996); Asian Mothers, Western Birth (Ausmed Publications, 1999); Living in a New Country: Understanding Migrants’ Health (Ausmed Publications, 1999); Hmong Women and Reproduction (Bergin & Garvey, 2000); Coming of Age in South and Southeast Asia: Youth, Courtship and Sexuality (with Lenore Manderson, Curzon Press, 2002); Health, Social Change and Communities (with Heather Gardner, Oxford University Press, 2003). Her more recent books include Reproduction, Childbearing and Motherhood: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Nova Science Publishers, 2007); Childrearing and Infant Care Issues: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Nova Science Publishers, 2007); The Journey of Becoming a Mother amongst Thai Women in Northern Thailand (Lexington Books, 2007); Population, Community, & Health Promotion (with Sansnee Jirojwong, Oxford University Press, 2008); Infant Feeding Practices: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Springer, New York, 2011); Motherhood and Postnatal Depression: Narratives of Women and their Partners (with Carolyn Westall, Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2011); Health, Illness and Well-Being: Perspectives and Social Determinants (with Rebecca Fanany and Glenda Verrinder, Oxford University Press, 2012), Contemporary Socio-Cultural and Political Perspectives in Thailand (Springer, 2014); Public Health: Local and Global Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 2016, second edition in 2019, third edition in 2022), and Social Determinants of Health (Oxford University Press, 2019).

   Pranee was a general editor of a book series, HIV/AIDS and Cross-Cultural Research. The series is being published by Springer in the Netherlands between 2012-2020. Her two books in the series were published by Springer in 2013. These were Stigma, Discrimination and Living with HIV/AIDS and Women, Motherhood and Living with HIV/AIDS. The third one in the series is Children, Young People and Living with HIV/AIDS: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, published in 2016.

    Pranee has also written and edited a number of research method books. Her first research method book was Qualitative Research Methods: A Health Focus (with Douglas Ezzy, Oxford University Press, 1999); the second edition of the book was titled Qualitative Research Methods (2005); the third edition was published in 2009; the fourth edition was published in 2013, and the fifth edition was published in 2020. Pranee has also published a book on doing qualitative research online: Health Research in Cyberspace: Methodological, Practical and Personal Issues (Nova Science Publishers, 2006). Her other books include Researching the Vulnerable: A Guide to Sensitive Research Methods (Sage, 2007); Undertaking Sensitive Research: Managing Boundaries, Emotions and Risk (with Virginia Dickson-Swift and Erica James, Cambridge University Press, 2008); Knowing Differently: Arts-Based and Collaborative Research Methods (with Jean Rumbold, Nova Science Publishers, 2008); Doing Cross-Cultural Research: Ethical and Methodological Issues (Springer, 2008), Performing Qualitative Cross-Cultural Research (Cambridge University Press, 2010); Research Methods in Health and Evidence-Based Practice (Oxford University Press, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2022); Focus Group Methodology: Principles and Practice (Sage, 2011, online version in 2016); and Using Participatory Qualitative Research Methodologies in Health (with Gina Higginbottom, Sage, 2015). In 2019, her Handbook of Research Methods in Health Social Sciences was published by Springer. She has recently published a number of books including How to Conduct Qualitative Research in Social Science (Edward Elgar, 2022), Handbook of Qualitative Cross-Cultural Research: A Social Science Perspective (Edward Elgar, 2023), and Handbook of Social Science in Global Public Health (Springer, 2023).